Physical tests for simulating a crash between a vehicle and pedestrians or a vehicle and its occupants are a powerful tool for developing improvements of technical devices and may be helpful in product development and failure analysis.
Various legal and industrial regulations exist which need to be fulfilled in order to accept a vehicle as sufficiently safe. Examples are 2003/102 EG, EEVC WG17, FMVSS, ACEA, JAMA, or EuroNCAP. Directive 2003/102 EG, for instance, regards the protection of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users before and in the event of a collision with a motor vehicle.
DE 103 39 409 discloses a shooting device for accelerating a test body under pre-selected conditions against a fixed object, which is part of a vehicle, in an acceleration direction. The test body has a linear moving carrier on which it is held using a mounting. The carrier is linked with the inductor cam of a linear motor to permit control of its firing velocity. The cam moves along a reaction bar that is parallel to the carrier guide.
DE 101 04 192 discloses a holder which holds a test body. The holder is provided with a carrier which can be accelerated. The carrier can be selectively operated in either a free-flight mode or a guided mode. At least part of the accelerated carrier carrying the holder is movable in the guided mode until the test body collides with the object, and can be braked in the free-flight mode prior to the collision.
However, conventional crash test systems may be inaccurate, time consuming or inconvenient in use.